Plan for Mitchelltown approved by Kinston City Council

Work continues on home restoration in the Mitchelltown area of Kinston on Monday. The city council approved the Urban Redevelopment Area plan, which will address neglected areas of Mitchelltown through various improvements.

Photo by Zach Frailey / The Free Press

By Junious Smith III / Staff writer

Published: Thursday, June 5, 2014 at 07:21 PM.

Mitchelltown should see more progress in the near future.

On Monday, the Kinston City Council voted unanimously to approve an urban redevelopment plan for the 12-acre arts district.

Sammy Aiken, a member of the council, said the document will be good for economic development and the arts.

“There are only two in the world, with Paducah, Ky. following a similar guideline,” Aiken said. “You can see the houses being revitalized with vibrant colors, and there is more of an attraction for more people to come into town, especially artists who can show us their abilities. This is really good for the city.”

Kinston City Councilwoman Kelly Jarman said the plan will also focus on improving the appearance of the neighborhood.

“This has been a long time coming,” Jarman said. “Our focus was to concentrate on the Mitchelltown area, and now we have a living planning document we can use to proceed. Some of the goals of the URA include removing blighted influences, decreasing the number of vacant properties, improving the appearance of the neighborhood, preserving historical landmarks and ultimately improving the quality of life for the residents. This can be an up-and-coming positive reflection of the city.”

Kinston Community Development Planner Marcia Perritt said the plan could provide great dividends to the city.

On Monday, the Kinston City Council voted unanimously to approve an urban redevelopment plan for the 12-acre arts district.

Sammy Aiken, a member of the council, said the document will be good for economic development and the arts.

“There are only two in the world, with Paducah, Ky. following a similar guideline,” Aiken said. “You can see the houses being revitalized with vibrant colors, and there is more of an attraction for more people to come into town, especially artists who can show us their abilities. This is really good for the city.”

Kinston City Councilwoman Kelly Jarman said the plan will also focus on improving the appearance of the neighborhood.

“This has been a long time coming,” Jarman said. “Our focus was to concentrate on the Mitchelltown area, and now we have a living planning document we can use to proceed. Some of the goals of the URA include removing blighted influences, decreasing the number of vacant properties, improving the appearance of the neighborhood, preserving historical landmarks and ultimately improving the quality of life for the residents. This can be an up-and-coming positive reflection of the city.”

Kinston Community Development Planner Marcia Perritt said the plan could provide great dividends to the city.

“It’s a great benefit for the property owners, stakeholders and residents as we all come together as a community to preserve this area,” Perritt said. “We have goals and visions to make it happen, and this document provides the framework. It may not guarantee external funds, but it opens paths the city didn’t have at the time.”

Mother Earth Brewery co-owner Stephen Hill has been a major advocate in trying to restore the historic neighborhood. He said the URA was a great thing for Kinston.

“It is something the city really needed to be able to clean up the neighborhood, and hopefully it will deter crime and offer homes to artists and other people who want to fix them up,” Hill said.

Carol Tokarski has also lobbied for improvements for Mitchelltown, where she has lived for years.

“I’ve been waiting since 1998 for this,” Tokarski said. “It’s been a long road, but it’s finally done. This will give us more ability to guide landlord-abandoned property, control alcohol permits and we can see if it works in other neighborhoods later. The neat thing about this is, I talked to a wonderful woman in a poor part of Raleigh who tried to get a statute passed just to help her small neighborhood with blighted buildings years ago. She was able to turn her neighborhood around, and I said ‘this is what we could do,’ but at the time I couldn’t convince anyone on the city council or planning department.

“It’s hard for homeowners to live by abandoned property, and we had no procedure. This statute will help save the property value instead of just waiting for the buildings to be condemned.”

Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.